Let’s take a quick stroll down the halls of history for a minute.
The cotton gin
Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin revolutionized the cotton industry in the United States. Prior to his invention, farming cotton required hundreds of man-hours to separate the cottonseed from the raw cotton fibers. Simple seed-removing devices have been around for centuries, however, Eli Whitney’s invention automated the seed separation process. His machine could generate up to fifty pounds of cleaned cotton daily, making cotton production profitable for the southern states. (source)
The steam tractor
Another among the most significant inventors, in terms of his impact on the logging industry, was Charles L Tolles, born Aug. 28, 1859, in Eau Claire. Tolles developed, according to newspaper reports, the famous steam logging tractor, which saved thousands of man-hours for the logging industry. (more…)
The Henry Ford assembly line
However, Ford had to figure out a way to produce cars more inexpensively and quickly. Ford decided to install the moving belt. This allowed more than one man to try to put together a part for the car. As the belt moved along one man would have a certain job to do for that part, then it would move on to the next person. For example, the magneto would take one man twenty minutes to assemble it, but with the moving belt the process took only five minutes. Their first attempt to assemble an entire car by the assembly line was done by putting the frame on skids and pulling it from one of the building by a rope. As the frame moved along a group of workers walked by installing parts into the frame. Soon the number of man hours was reduced from 15 1/2 to 1 /2 hours. (source)
Today much of the newspaper biz is bellyaching over how they are being hurt by low sales. Nevermind the fact that they had fair warning of the potential impact of the Internet as more people are ditching papers for online media. Like any other technology, one of the by-products of the Internet is the reduction of man hours used for printing newspapers and delivery. What at one time required a huge building in the middle of a major city with a large staff now can be produced quicker and distributed wider with just a handful of individuals.
The newspaper industry is learning a hard lesson about how job security has no place on the information superhighway. This is a lesson technology has taught us all throughout history. One way or another, they are going to learn that lesson.
Black Journalists, Bloggers Discuss the Future of News
Unprepared For The Revolution
by Duane on December 11th, 2008 at 3:48 pmLet’s take a quick stroll down the halls of history for a minute.
The cotton gin
Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin revolutionized the cotton industry in the United States. Prior to his invention, farming cotton required hundreds of man-hours to separate the cottonseed from the raw cotton fibers. Simple seed-removing devices have been around for centuries, however, Eli Whitney’s invention automated the seed separation process. His machine could generate up to fifty pounds of cleaned cotton daily, making cotton production profitable for the southern states. (source)
The steam tractor
Another among the most significant inventors, in terms of his impact on the logging industry, was Charles L Tolles, born Aug. 28, 1859, in Eau Claire. Tolles developed, according to newspaper reports, the famous steam logging tractor, which saved thousands of man-hours for the logging industry. (more…)
The Henry Ford assembly line
However, Ford had to figure out a way to produce cars more inexpensively and quickly. Ford decided to install the moving belt. This allowed more than one man to try to put together a part for the car. As the belt moved along one man would have a certain job to do for that part, then it would move on to the next person. For example, the magneto would take one man twenty minutes to assemble it, but with the moving belt the process took only five minutes. Their first attempt to assemble an entire car by the assembly line was done by putting the frame on skids and pulling it from one of the building by a rope. As the frame moved along a group of workers walked by installing parts into the frame. Soon the number of man hours was reduced from 15 1/2 to 1 /2 hours. (source)
Today much of the newspaper biz is bellyaching over how they are being hurt by low sales. Nevermind the fact that they had fair warning of the potential impact of the Internet as more people are ditching papers for online media. Like any other technology, one of the by-products of the Internet is the reduction of man hours used for printing newspapers and delivery. What at one time required a huge building in the middle of a major city with a large staff now can be produced quicker and distributed wider with just a handful of individuals.
The newspaper industry is learning a hard lesson about how job security has no place on the information superhighway. This is a lesson technology has taught us all throughout history. One way or another, they are going to learn that lesson.
Black Journalists, Bloggers Discuss the Future of News